GHL Champion Cleveland Barons
Jun 4, 2019 12:57:04 GMT -5
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Post by Brian-Cleveland on Jun 4, 2019 12:57:04 GMT -5
Coming off of their successful 2018 Cup run everyone in Cleveland was curious what the Barons would do for an encore. I do not believe anyone could have predicted a season like this. They stormed out of the gate by going unbeaten in their first twenty games with a record of 17-0-3. Their first loss didn’t occur until November 23 against the upward trending Hamilton Tigers. Their 60 wins and 133 points beat records set the previous season by the Boston Bears.
The Barons’ balanced attack, led by pending unrestricted free agents Sean Couturier, Brad Marchand, and Ryan Miller, was too much for the league to handle. By season’s end all three were high up on the leaderboards at their respective positions. In fact, the Barons finished the season with six players averaging over a point a game. By controlling both ends of the ice the Barons finished second in the league in goals for and first in goals against. When all was said and done the Barons finished the season with their third Presidents Trophy in four years as well as their eighth consecutive divisional title.
An interesting thing about this season for the Barons is the fact that their team is mostly the same as the one that started on opening night. For the first time that I can remember the Barons only made one deal during the season and that was the one that put them over the top. On February 16, the Barons acquired Eric Staal and Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Baltimore Skip Jacks. This solidified both their third line and their third defensive pairing. With Staal playing out of position at right wing he put up a ridiculous 23 goals in 24 games to finish with 60 for the year.
Then, the playoffs started. After a first round sweep against the Wild Card Colorado Pioneers and a five game matchup against the Alaska Polar Bears the Barons seemed poised going into the Conference Finals against the Detroit Mustangs. That is when a funny thing happened: they lost Game 1 by a score of 3 to 1. And it was not a fluke as the Mustangs outshot the Barons 22-19. Suddenly, the Barons had flashes of the 18-1 New Patriots in their heads. The Barons came out hungry in Game 2, but were still down 3-2 late in the third period. That’s when playoff hero Teuvo Teravainen tied it up with 2:03 left in regulation. Ryan Miller stood tall by stopping all 19 shots he faced in overtime and Claude Giroux was able to put it away early in the 2nd OT. That game was a turning point as Miller suffered a lower body injury that would keep him out for the next two weeks. Had the Detroit Mustangs won that game the Cleveland Barons would have been pressed to win 4 of their next 5 without their starting goalie.
The Barons went on to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead before Detroit put 4 past Matt Murray to force a Game 6. Again, this series could have been dramatically different had the Mustangs held onto a late 3rd period. This time it was the pesky winger Brad Marchand who tied it up with only 4 seconds remaining in the 3rd and captain Jonathan Toews who punched in the winner to send the Barons to their 3rd Cup Finals appearance.
With their fate set all the Barons could do was wait in Cleveland. The GHL crowd anticipated a Holland brothers rematch from the previous season with the Boston Bears holding a 3 games to 2 lead. The Cornwall Crusaders never game up and were led by the heroics of Carter Hutton in Game 7 to earn their first berth in the Cup Finals.
Due to Ryan Miller out until Game 2, the first game of the Finals was pivotal for the Cornwall Crusaders to get out to a lead in the series. And, after 20 minutes of play, the Crusaders held their own in a back and forth 3-3 matchup. After both teams traded goals in the 2nd period the Barons put it away with 4 unanswered goals to turn this heated battle into a romp. The win did not come without any casualties as it saw Niklas Hjalmarsson lost for the remainder of the playoffs.
Luckily, Ryan Miller was back to lead the team out of the locker room as the Barons won their second game on home ice with a score of 6-2. Again, the infirmary was getting another patient as captain Jonathan Toews went down with what could have possibly been a concussion. Toews was centering the prolific second line in between Brad Marchand and Teuvo Teravainen. This was a huge blow as the veteran was leading the playoffs in both points and assists. It turns out that, after playing in only 17 games, he led all players in both categories at the end of the playoffs.
Cleveland then dominated Game 3 by a score of 6-1 and were hoping to complete the sweep in Cornwall. The Crusaders had the advantage in both goals and shots heading into the final stanza. That is when the Barons put their foot down and controlled the third. Down 3-1, the Barons outshot their opponent 15-2 to erase the two goal deficit. This time it was Teravainen who tied it up with under 3 minutes remaining to send it to OT. Momentum was on the Barons side. Unfortunately, Mark Stone had other things in mind when he ended the game only 4 seconds into the 4th period to send this one back to Cleveland.
On the night of Game 5 there was the feeling that the Cup would be won in front of the home crowd for the first time in Barons (contemporary) history. And, on this night, it became the Sean Couturier show. After only scoring 3 goals and 13 assists in 19 games during the playoffs, Coots ran roughshod with a 4 goal and 2 assist performance to lead the Barons to victory.
The upcoming offseason has a lot of question marks for the Barons. There are a multitude of unrestricted free agents that will be gone. Only one of Couturier or Marchand will be back. Chances are, due to their unrestricted free agent status in 2020, we might see Toews, Giroux, and/or Landeskog on the move. This could very well be the last hurrah of the Cleveland Barons “Dynasty”. All told, it was a historical season and we look forward to this offseason.
The Barons’ balanced attack, led by pending unrestricted free agents Sean Couturier, Brad Marchand, and Ryan Miller, was too much for the league to handle. By season’s end all three were high up on the leaderboards at their respective positions. In fact, the Barons finished the season with six players averaging over a point a game. By controlling both ends of the ice the Barons finished second in the league in goals for and first in goals against. When all was said and done the Barons finished the season with their third Presidents Trophy in four years as well as their eighth consecutive divisional title.
An interesting thing about this season for the Barons is the fact that their team is mostly the same as the one that started on opening night. For the first time that I can remember the Barons only made one deal during the season and that was the one that put them over the top. On February 16, the Barons acquired Eric Staal and Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Baltimore Skip Jacks. This solidified both their third line and their third defensive pairing. With Staal playing out of position at right wing he put up a ridiculous 23 goals in 24 games to finish with 60 for the year.
Then, the playoffs started. After a first round sweep against the Wild Card Colorado Pioneers and a five game matchup against the Alaska Polar Bears the Barons seemed poised going into the Conference Finals against the Detroit Mustangs. That is when a funny thing happened: they lost Game 1 by a score of 3 to 1. And it was not a fluke as the Mustangs outshot the Barons 22-19. Suddenly, the Barons had flashes of the 18-1 New Patriots in their heads. The Barons came out hungry in Game 2, but were still down 3-2 late in the third period. That’s when playoff hero Teuvo Teravainen tied it up with 2:03 left in regulation. Ryan Miller stood tall by stopping all 19 shots he faced in overtime and Claude Giroux was able to put it away early in the 2nd OT. That game was a turning point as Miller suffered a lower body injury that would keep him out for the next two weeks. Had the Detroit Mustangs won that game the Cleveland Barons would have been pressed to win 4 of their next 5 without their starting goalie.
The Barons went on to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead before Detroit put 4 past Matt Murray to force a Game 6. Again, this series could have been dramatically different had the Mustangs held onto a late 3rd period. This time it was the pesky winger Brad Marchand who tied it up with only 4 seconds remaining in the 3rd and captain Jonathan Toews who punched in the winner to send the Barons to their 3rd Cup Finals appearance.
With their fate set all the Barons could do was wait in Cleveland. The GHL crowd anticipated a Holland brothers rematch from the previous season with the Boston Bears holding a 3 games to 2 lead. The Cornwall Crusaders never game up and were led by the heroics of Carter Hutton in Game 7 to earn their first berth in the Cup Finals.
Due to Ryan Miller out until Game 2, the first game of the Finals was pivotal for the Cornwall Crusaders to get out to a lead in the series. And, after 20 minutes of play, the Crusaders held their own in a back and forth 3-3 matchup. After both teams traded goals in the 2nd period the Barons put it away with 4 unanswered goals to turn this heated battle into a romp. The win did not come without any casualties as it saw Niklas Hjalmarsson lost for the remainder of the playoffs.
Luckily, Ryan Miller was back to lead the team out of the locker room as the Barons won their second game on home ice with a score of 6-2. Again, the infirmary was getting another patient as captain Jonathan Toews went down with what could have possibly been a concussion. Toews was centering the prolific second line in between Brad Marchand and Teuvo Teravainen. This was a huge blow as the veteran was leading the playoffs in both points and assists. It turns out that, after playing in only 17 games, he led all players in both categories at the end of the playoffs.
Cleveland then dominated Game 3 by a score of 6-1 and were hoping to complete the sweep in Cornwall. The Crusaders had the advantage in both goals and shots heading into the final stanza. That is when the Barons put their foot down and controlled the third. Down 3-1, the Barons outshot their opponent 15-2 to erase the two goal deficit. This time it was Teravainen who tied it up with under 3 minutes remaining to send it to OT. Momentum was on the Barons side. Unfortunately, Mark Stone had other things in mind when he ended the game only 4 seconds into the 4th period to send this one back to Cleveland.
On the night of Game 5 there was the feeling that the Cup would be won in front of the home crowd for the first time in Barons (contemporary) history. And, on this night, it became the Sean Couturier show. After only scoring 3 goals and 13 assists in 19 games during the playoffs, Coots ran roughshod with a 4 goal and 2 assist performance to lead the Barons to victory.
The upcoming offseason has a lot of question marks for the Barons. There are a multitude of unrestricted free agents that will be gone. Only one of Couturier or Marchand will be back. Chances are, due to their unrestricted free agent status in 2020, we might see Toews, Giroux, and/or Landeskog on the move. This could very well be the last hurrah of the Cleveland Barons “Dynasty”. All told, it was a historical season and we look forward to this offseason.
